Exchange Guidelines and Useful Information

The University of Cincinnati Information Technologies (UCit) developed the Exchange guidelines as part of the deployment of Microsoft Exchange at the University of Cincinnati. The primary intent of the guidelines to insure system stability, availability, and continued functionality for all users. Microsoft Exchange is designed for centralized messaging and allows users additional functionality and flexibility for information processing. The centralized messaging systems allow for improved messaging, retention, and delivery; however, this also requires that we implement messaging guidelines to support the number of accounts we must manage on the system.

UCit recommends that all Exchange users review this material and abide by the guidelines. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please feel free to contact the UCit Help Desk at 556-HELP (4357).

Message Quotas 

Default messaging quotas are a "480 MB Warning" and a "500 MB Maximum." The purpose of the 480 MB warning message is to allow users time to review message directories and clean up mail before reaching the "500 MB Maximum Quota." Once the "500 MB Maximum Quota" has been reached, a user will be unable to send messages until the message consumption is reduced.

Reaching the "480/500 MB Maximum Quota" limits will inhibit the sending of messages by the user, but will not inhibit the receipt of any new mail unless the user exceeds the "500 MB Inhibit Receipt Quota" that has been enabled for all users.

It is the responsibility of each user to review his or her message directories and perform periodic clean up. UCit recommends the use of archival or offline personal folders for the retention of messages and documents not designated as critical. Messages with large attachments should also be reviewed for possible storage in offline personal folders. For additional information on archive and offline personal folder usage, please see the Exchange FAQ page.

Internet Mail Connector

The Exchange Internet Mail Connector allows the processing of mail delivery external to the Exchange Messaging System. A 30 MB maximum message size has been enabled on the connector for both incoming and outgoing messages. Items that exceed the 30 MB limit will be returned to sender to be processed by alternate routes, such as FTP services. Large attachments can be zipped to reduce the total size of the message.

Mass Mailings

UCit is aware of some users' need to be able to send mass electronic mailings for campus wide review. Mass electronic disbursement of campus notifications is becoming a requirement for electronic messaging at the university. UCit is looking into possible solutions to provide this capability in the future, but due to the impact on the current messaging systems, UCit has implemented a maximum recipient number of 500 e-mail addresses per message. 

If you require a larger distribution please contact the Help Desk at 556-4357 for assistance. Once all legacy messaging systems and gateways have been retired and all users' accounts have been consolidated onto the supported messaging systems, mass electronic mailing, mass mail distribution, and bulk mail may be available for use. UCit will continue to research other possible solutions during the interim.

Mail Content (Legal-Ethics)

Please refer to the General Policy on the Use of Information Technology at http://www.uc.edu/ucit/itgenpolicy.html.

Employee Status Account Review and Removal

UCit has implemented Automated Employee Status Audit procedures to review all accounts on Exchange and verify the employees' status. Users who are not active employees at the University of Cincinnati are not eligible for Exchange accounts under the Microsoft License Agreement. The Employee Status audit procedures run on a weekly basis (every Monday) and will automatically disable user accounts which are not flagged as belonging to active employees. Disabled accounts are permanently deleted from Exchange at the end of each month.

Users who go into inactive employee status and would like to retain e-mail accounts need to be sponsored and their accounts paid for by university colleges or departments. Sponsorship instructions are defined in the Account Activation (Affiliate) information. Contact the Help Desk at 556-4357 for additional information.

Inactive Account Review and Removal

We review Exchange accounts on a quarterly basis to determine inactive accounts based on their last activity dates. Accounts inactive for six months are disabled and hidden for one month prior to permanent removal from the system.

A user who wants to retain an e-mail account which will exceed the six month inactivity period may contact the Help Desk at 556-4357 to have the account flagged accordingly.

Blind Carbon Copy Feature (Privacy)

The Exchange System allows for the functionality of Blind Copies on messages. Blind Copies allow a sender to direct copies of a message to other users without the primary recipients’ knowledge. UCit recommends that you use this feature with discretion.

Auto Forwarding

UCit does not support the use of the automatic forwarding of mail to alternate messaging systems. Accounts which have enabled the auto forwarding feature induce additional overhead for the routing of mail and may inhibit mail delivery. Mail delays can also be realized due to additional message transfers and routes. Auto forwarding can disable functionality such as delivery and read receipts and can be misleading. UCit highly recommends that users select one messaging account and terminate others.

Account Request Additions/Changes/Deletions (Security)

Each department on Exchange will have a designated site coordinator to coordinate user account maintenance and serve as the first line of contact for users. It is the responsibility of each site coordinator to send the account maintenance request to TECHNICIAN@UC.EDU with the appropriate information for account processing. Required information includes first name, last name, middle initial, department and social security number. Users' social security numbers are required for user authentication. The social security number will be matched against the University of Cincinnati employee database to determine the user's pre-assigned UserID and insure its uniqueness. The information is strictly confidential and will only be used by the Exchange administrator for account validation. Accounts will be processed on a first come, first served basis.

Account deletion requests must be authorized by the site coordinator and submitted in electronic form.

Please note:  Account deletion is a permanent action. Exchange currently does not allow for the restoration of a single mailbox. It is each site coordinator's responsibility to verify account removal prior to requesting such action.

UCit will notify the site coordinator upon account creation. Training and client workstation set up are the responsibility of the designated site coordinator.

Exchange Backup and Recovery

Exchange is client-server messaging system which uses single message instance in a database storage environment. All messages for all users are stored within a single database, which is backed up nightly. Backups of the Exchange system are performed exclusively for disaster recovery purposes in the event that the Exchange system needs to be rebuilt. Exchange does not provide for single mailbox recovery. Recovery of a mailbox would require the rebuilding of the Exchange system onto an alternate system and the restoration of the database for all users. Exchange backups are not incremental, but are snapshots of the messaging database at the time of the backup cycle. Mail that is taken off the server via use of the POP protocol or deletion of messages will not be included in the backup since the messages have been removed from the system prior to the backup activation. Database snapshots are copied to tape and kept for 30 days. After 30 days, the tapes are recycled and the contents are overwritten.

Password Security

It is each user's responsibility to periodically change his or her Exchange password. Passwords are case sensitive and should be a minimum of eight (8) characters in length, with no special characters. UCit recommends that users change their passwords every 180 days to ensure account security. UCit also recommends the use of lowercase passwords due to NT operating system default requirements. Exchange users may use Password Self-Service. See http://www.uc.edu/infosec/PSShelp.htm for details.

UCit does not recommend the use of secondary passwords on mail folders within Exchange. Secondary passwords are permanent and the cannot be superseded by the administrator in the event that the password is forgotten or corrupted.

Proxy Access (Security)

Exchange allows for the use of Proxy access on each user's mailbox. A user can grant access rights for other Exchange users to access his or her account for messaging or calendar use or both. Users who enable this feature assume full responsibility for permission and access rights granted to other users.

Messaging Clients, Support, and Training

UCit will support Exchange and Outlook clients to their full functionality. UCit recommends the use of Outlook wherever applicable. Training handouts are available.

Summary

Messaging procedures and practices stipulated in this document have been implemented for the continued overall functionality of the system and for security for all users. They are subject to change, as UCit will review them periodically. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the UCit Help Desk at 556-4357 (HELP).